01.13.05
DC Agle (818) 393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Gretchen Cook-Anderson (202) 358-0836
Dolores Beasley (202) 358-1753
NASA Headquarters, WashingtonRELEASE: 2005-016
DEEP IMPACT STATUS REPORT
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is out of safe mode and healthy, and on
its way to an encounter with comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005.
Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Wednesday, the Deep
Impact spacecraft entered a state called safe mode soon after
separation from the launch vehicle. When a spacecraft enters safe
mode, all but essential spacecraft systems are turned off until it
receives new commands from mission control. When Deep Impact
separated from the launch vehicle, the spacecraft computer detected
higher than expected temperatures in the propulsion system.
While in the safe mode, the spacecraft successfully executed all
mission events associated with commencing space flight operations.
Data received from the spacecraft indicate it has deployed and locked
its solar panels, is receiving power and achieved proper orientation
in space.
"We are out of safe mode and proceeding with in-flight operations,"
said Deep Impact project manager Rick Grammier of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory. "We're back on nominal timeline and look
forward to our encounter with comet Tempel 1 this summer."
Deep Impact is comprised of two parts, a "fly-by" spacecraft and a
smaller "impactor." The impactor will be released into the comet's
path for a planned collision on July 4. The crater produced by the
impactor is expected to be up to the size of a football stadium and
two to 14 stories deep. Ice and dust debris will be ejected from the
crater, revealing the material beneath.
The fly-by spacecraft will observe the effects of the collision.
NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes, and other
telescopes on Earth, will also observe the collision.
Comets are time capsules that hold clues about the formation and
evolution of the Solar System. They are composed of ice, gas and
dust, primitive debris from the Solar System's distant and coldest
regions that formed 4.5 billion years ago.
The management of the Deep Impact launch was the responsibility of
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Deep Impact was launched from Pad
17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Delta II launch
service was provided by Boeing Expendable Launch Systems, Huntington
Beach, Calif. The spacecraft was built for NASA by Ball Aerospace and
Technologies Corporation, Boulder, Colo. Deep Impact project
management is by JPL.
For more information about the mission on the Web, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/deepimpact or http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov.
For information about NASA and other agency programs on the Web, visit
http://www.nasa.gov.
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